Photo taken on September 19, 2015 shows a baby Brazilian opossum at the “Parque Estoril” zoo in Sao Bernardo do Campo of Sao Paulo, Brazil. According to local press, the “Parque Estoril” zoo houses currently 23 orphan cubs of wild animals rescued in the south region of Sao Paulo, victims of illegal wildlife trade or problems caused by urban growth. According to the zoo, all the animals arrived in the last three months, and many of them, not being able to be reintroduced to their natural habitat, will be used as examples in environmental education classes. (Photo by Rahel Patrasso/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

A young boy scoops water from a hand-dug well in the dry riverbed near Matinyani, in the semi-arid Kitui County in southeastern Kenya, 22 March 2015, the World Water Day. Residents of Kitui County and other arid and semi-arid areas of the country have been hard-hit by extremely poor rainfall this year while the government said in previous month that some 1.6 million people countrywide are facing acute starvation due to the drought and will need relief food over the next six months. Residents of Matinyani say they haven't seen a drop of rain in nearly four months. Thousands of Kenyans in rural areas walk tens of kilometers just to fetch water to drink and to be used in their homes. According to an estimate by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), 17 million people lack access to safe water in Kenya, where the drought is a perennial problem. (Photo by Dai Kurokawa/EPA)

Raccoon Fritzi eats at the home of veterinarian Mathilde Laininger in Berlin, Germany, January 27, 2022. She cares for four raccoons that can no longer be released into the wild. Raccoon Fritzi has an Instagram account with ten thousand followers. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A boy holds a machine gun at a military hardware exhibition during a swear-in ceremony for new recruits of the Russian military-patriotic club “Yunarmia” (Young army) in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Crimea, October 27, 2018. (Photo by Pavel Rebrov/Reuters)

A person participates in the parade of the “San Jose Carnival” in San Jose, Costa Rica, 27 December 2018. The festival sees people parading through the city's main avenues as part of the San Jose Celebrations that take place at the end of each year. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA/EFE)

In this October 27, 1983 file photo, soldiers brandish captured AK-47 rifles from the windows of a civilian vehicle as they drive near Point Salines Airport in St. George, Grenada. In 1983, U.S. forces invaded the Caribbean island of Grenada after accusing the government of allying itself with Communist Cuba. (Photo by Doug Jennings/AP Photo)

Jim Mahoney looks out from his yard towards the construction of the Foxconn manufacturing complex, after he and his wife Kim refused to sell their home and property to Foxconn, in the Racine County city of Mt. Pleasant, Wisconsin, U.S., July 27, 2019. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)